E-business news and e-business widget

In the spring of 2007, Michael Sullivan was trying to figure out how to add some mojo to his startup, Affine Systems. As a graduate student in applied mathematics at Harvard University, Sullivan had cofounded the company in the fall of 2006 with classmate Bobby Impollonia. Working out of their homes, the two computer whizzes had whipped up a software program to let media companies know if their copyrighted videos show up on the internet.

Why doesn't free trump expensive? Every Microsoft product has a free, open source counterpart created by dedicated programmers who loathe everything the company stands for. The free stuff is darn good. Yet companies and individuals continue to buy billions of dollars worth of Microsoft products.

As someone who is familiar with the coverage that surrounds the iPhone, I was puzzled by Tuesday's announcement from AT&T about a new way to buy the gadget. My first reaction: Something must be missing. Second reaction: Why would anyone pay more for the iPhone if there's no additional benefit?

We're about to find out. Web privacy issues were raised this week when a judge ordered YouTube to turn over data on what users are watching. That news,...